Identity theft has become one of the major problems of the information age. In addition to issues related to cyber security, the difficulty with properly disposing of sensitive written materials persists. Identity thieves have been known to snoop through trash in order to gain sensitive personal details of their targets.
Personal shredders have been one possible way to address the issue of personal information appearing on printed documents. However, the relatively light duty cycle of most inexpensive personal models may render them unsuitable for all but the most lightweight needs. Furthermore, such models can be noisy and may also be dangerous to children and pets. Users may also tend to “save up” their documents to shred, which can result in exceeding the capacity of personal shredders, leading to overheating and even failure. Personal shredders may also lack the capacity to properly shred old credit cards, compact discs, and bound material.
Moving up to a higher capacity shredder can address some of these issues but may create others. Higher capacity generally means larger physical size and a great deal of shredded refuse to handle when the device fills up. Paper can expand to greater than ten times its original volume when shredded. Thus, for any shredder, space required to maintain the shredded refuse is a limiting factor for successful implementation.
What is needed is a system and method for addressing the above, and related, issues.